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A biographer credited Edison's "highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge that eventually led him to question scores of the prevailing theories on the workings of electricity."<ref name="Edison"/>  Edison's success was not caused by an special advantages:  his family was poor and Edison himself was nearly totally deaf.  Imagine that:  the inventor of the record player was deaf!  We should remember that the next time we resort to excuses for not accomplishing what we could have.

A biographer credited Edison's "highly individualistic style of acquiring knowledge that eventually led him to question scores of the prevailing theories on the workings of electricity."<ref name="Edison"/>  Edison's success was not caused by an special advantages:  his family was poor and Edison himself was nearly totally deaf.  Imagine that:  the inventor of the record player was deaf!  We should remember that the next time we resort to excuses for not accomplishing what we could have.

One of Edison's sons, Charles, became a conservative governor of New Jersey and later founded the Conservative Party of New York, which remains active today.

One of Edison's sons, Charles, became a conservative governor of New Jersey and was later a co-founder of the Conservative Party of New York, which remains active today.

There were other marvelous inventions or engineering feats in the second half of the 19th century.  The Brooklyn Bridge, which still stands today on the east side of lower Manhattan (connecting it with Brooklyn), is a cable suspension bridge that was completed in 1883.  It was remarkable at its time, and heralded in many new suspension bridges to span across waterways.  Soon the Brooklyn Bridge enabled the transportation of 33 million persons a year, and that was before the arrival of automobiles!

There were other marvelous inventions or engineering feats in the second half of the 19th century.  The Brooklyn Bridge, which still stands today on the east side of lower Manhattan (connecting it with Brooklyn), is a cable suspension bridge that was completed in 1883.  It was remarkable at its time, and heralded in many new suspension bridges to span across waterways.  Soon the Brooklyn Bridge enabled the transportation of 33 million persons a year, and that was before the arrival of automobiles!